1968 United States presidential election
The 1968 United States presidential election was the 46th quadrennial presidential election, and also the last in the unbroken series of free elections stretching back to 1788. The Progressive nominee, Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy, defeated the Republican and Democratic nominees, California Governor Ronald Reagan and Alabama Governor George Wallace, respectively. The 1968 election would be the last presidential election before the February Coup against President George McGovern. Progressive nomination Republican nomination Primaries The Republican Party convention was possibly the most tense convention of them all, a tough record to set considering the general air of tension and looming catastrophe that lay over the entire election. Barry Goldwater’s Vice President, Massachusetts moderate Leverett Saltonstall, went into the race as the favorite to win, but there were problems almost from the start. Barry Goldwater had never liked the Vice President foisted upon him in 1964, and refused to endorse Saltonstall, holding out hope that a more conservative candidate would finally pick up steam, allowing him to break from party leadership. At the same time, while Saltonstall was effective at schmoozing and compromise in the Senate, he proved an ineffective campaigner. His style was considered stilted and unnatural, and though his advisers tried to rein it in, he was known as a Boston Brahmin at heart. This, combined with the preexisting divides within the Republican Party, would give the opportunity for three primary challengers to arise - Michigan Governor George Romney, Former Vice President William Miller, and Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew. Romney was the chosen candidate of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, the arch-liberal and patriarch of America’s governors. George Romney easily matched Rockefeller’s liberal positions, criticizing Saltonstall for his lack of action on civil rights, and his continued support for the Vietnam War, quickly becoming known as the “Republican Gene McCarthy” for both his political positions, and his status as as midwestern political maverick. On the far, far other end of the political spectrum was William Miller, the original Vice President to Barry Goldwater, and by all accounts his favored Vice President. While Miller was an eastern Catholic, he was well-known as a strong conservative, and he had nursed a grudge against Saltonstall ever since he was thrown out in the 1964 convention. He announced his run early, but the conspicuous absence of a Goldwater endorsement hung over the campaign from the beginning, a sign that Goldwater lacked faith in his ability to topple Saltonstall. And finally, there was Spiro Agnew. A relatively obscure mid-Atlantic governor, his political positions were equally inscrutable. While he ran as a centrist in the primaries, he had taken strong law and order stances as governor of Maryland, cracking down hard on civil unrest in Baltimore. His initially obscure campaign began to pick up some momentum in New Hampshire, though he remained far behind the other candidates in terms of coverage and popularity. Despite the twin primary challenges to Saltonstall, he was still expected to sail to an easy victory, with his many opponents splitting the anti-Saltonstall vote. The New Hampshire primary would be a wake-up call. Saltonstall had opted not to run a highly aggressive campaign in New Hampshire, fearing that being overly aggressive would risk making it seem as if his campaign was fearing a primary challenger, and sink his campaign. Ironically, it was this exact idea that would prove his undoing. When the results came in, Saltonstall was first. Just barely. With 34%, he was only 6 points ahead of Romney, and Miller and Agnew were both in double digits. All told, 65% of the New Hampshire vote was against him. Predictably, the rats fled the sinking ship. Surprised by Miller’s impressive showing in New Hampshire, Goldwater officially endorsed his former Vice President. Rockefeller finally took his huge political clout to bear, going all out in needling for endorsements. And Agnew began slowly expanding his political machine, working the party bigwigs, slowly convincing them to take the idea of a President Agnew seriously. Saltonstall began to collapse. Liberals fled to Romney, conservatives fled to Miller, and moderates, fearing that if Saltonstall lost they would be cut out of all power and influence, turned to Agnew as the only candidate capable of uniting the party. As the primary season dragged on, Saltonstall crashed into second place by the Wisconsin primary, just ahead of Miller. By Pennsylvania, he was in third, only ahead of Agnew. After Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts dropped out and endorsed Romney, his state went to the Romney camp, but just as in New Hampshire, by a much smaller margin than expected. Romney proved to be a disorganized and ineffective campaigner, just like Saltonstall, but with the added detriment of being extremely gaffe-prone, and not only that, being prone to dwelling on gaffes. He increasingly went from being considered a handsome, charismatic future standard-bearer of the party to being considered a plodding gaffer. Saltonstall began to gain at his expense once again, but it was only enough to allow Miller to take the lead, winning Indiana and making a strong showing in Ohio against favorite son Jim Rhodes. Nebraska too went for Miller, and DC went to Agnew in a surprise victory, albeit by a narrow margin. Oregon went strongly for Romney, while in California, moderate liberal favorite son Ronald Reagan won easily, though he remained quiet about who he wanted to see as the nominee, as did Jim Rhodes of Ohio. New Jersey narrowly went for Miller, giving another boost to his beleaguered campaign, as did his victory in South Dakota. The campaign ended in Illinois, with a temporary victory for Romney. All the while, Agnew largely remained at the low double-digits, still working the party elite as the darkest of dark horses. Republican Convention Despite the tumultuous campaign, no candidate had the clear majority in either the primaries or the unpledged delegates. It was largely expected that the convention's unpledged delegates would eventually come to the aid of Leverett Saltonstall, and grant him the nomination, but in a shock victory, Agnew narrowly beat Saltonstall in the first vote. This was the final nail in the coffin of the Saltonstall campaign, as all its remaining establishment support scattered to a variety of favorite sons, along with Romney, Miller, and Agnew. Over the next couple of ballots, only Saltonstall’s handful of ultra-establishment New Englanders remained by the Vice President, and soon Agnew’s agents approached Saltonstall with an offer, in which Saltonstall would stay on as Vice President, if he would endorse Agnew’s campaign and urge his delegates to endorse him. After much deliberation, Saltonstall agreed, and Agnew rocketed up to second place, behind Romney and just barely ahead of Miller. Agnew attempted to reach out to the Reagan campaign, but while Reagan was receptive to Agnew, his aides were not, remaining guarded and inscrutable. Rhodes was equally inscrutable, still hoping to be nominated as a compromise candidate if the convention went on too long. However, Senator Hiram Fong of Hawaii was more malleable, and after an hour of backroom negotiations, Fong fell into the Agnew camp, along with the Hawaii delegation. As the ballots reached the double digits, Agnew began a dual-pronged strategy to sabotage Miller. Firstly, he circulated pamphlets connecting Miller with the Water Works scandal, and none-too-subtly accusing him of orchestrating the scandal from behind the scenes, while at the same time offering jobs, kickbacks, and even outright bribes to Miller’s establishment backers. These methods proved successful, and as Miller fell further and further behind Agnew, Miller saw the writing on the wall and endorsed Agnew. Suddenly, Romney and Rockefeller realized that they were the only real opposition left to Agnew, and they began to panic. Nelson Rockefeller used his family ties to Arkansas governor and moderate liberal favorite son, Winthrop Rockefeller, to get the Arkansas’ delegation’s support, and Governor Wally Hickelof Alaska, not wanting to see an Agnew nomination, dropped out as well, endorsing Romney. Nevertheless, offers to the Reagan and Rhodes campaigns went nowhere, and votes continued without end. The house of cards collapsed with what would become infamous as the “Colson letter.” Orchestrated by Agnew’s chief adviser, Chuck Colson, the letter, or more accurately, the series of pamphlets, was a collection of scathing attacks on Romney’s character and policies. Some attacked him as un-Christian alien due to his Mormon religion and his grandfather’s polygamy. Some attacked him as un-American and ineligible to become President due to his Mexican birth. Some attacked him as soft on crime and none-too-subtly blacks due to his pro-civil rights stance. Still others attacked him as a puppet of Rockefeller and his liberal policies. Rockefeller, upon receiving word of this, finally intervened. Not wanting Romney to end up like Miller - cowed, forced to endorse Agnew after hours of tortuous decline, Rockefeller ordered Romney and his delegates to leave the convention, and endorse whoever the Progressives nominated. According to Rockefeller, Agnew had "abandoned the Republican traditions of liberty and democracy", and replaced them with a "farce". Seeing this, Agnew quickly backtracked, trying to find a way to get out of this mess while still retaining his power. The answer turned out to be Ronald Reagan. While Reagan had acquired a reputation as something of a liberal during his time as California governor, he was considered an empty vessel by the Agnew campaign, easy for others to influence and control. When Agnew offered Reagan the Presidency, his aides finally took notice. Two days after the convention had begun, Agnew “graciously” dropped out, in favor of the “compromise candidate” of Ronald Reagan, with Agnew staying on as his running mate. The Republican Party emerged from its convention beaten and bruised. The last-minute betrayal of Saltonstall enraged his more liberal supporters, who joined Rockefeller’s walkout (though they often stopped short of endorsing just any Progressive nominee), and the chaotic convention made the Republicans seem like the party of chaos, disorder, elitism, and corruption, in contrast to the order of Wallace, and the democracy of McCarthy. Nevertheless, Reagan and Agnew would have the dubious honor of being the last of the unbroken string of Republican presidential candidates stretching from 1854 to 1968. Democratic nomination Primaries Democratic convention Other parties and candidates Peace and Freedom Party Communist Party of the United States of America Socialist Workers Party General election Aftermath Results Category:Elections Category:Work in Progress